Was it love at first sight or a slow-burning attraction that crept up on you without you noticing – when did you realise that your home was the one for you? According to research by property website Rightmove, 29% of people had fallen for their current pad before they had got any further than the hallway. Among renters the figure was 27%.

Those who make it through the front door without reaching a decision tended to have made up their minds by the end of the first viewing. A third of homeowners said that was the case for them, and 38% of renters. Only 6% of buyers had made it through two viewings before deciding that a property should be their home.

The survey, which Rightmove has done to publicise a new section of its website aimed at sellers and landlords, was based on people's recollections of when they chose their current home, so it is difficult to tell how accurate they are. It would be interesting to know how many people had decided, "this is the house for me" outside a property that they quickly decided against one they got through the front door. There are properties around whose "kerb appeal" belies a dodgy layout or need for some substantial modernisation.

And there are those that slowly win you over. When I bought my house last year I didn't fall in love with it straight away. I wasn't even attracted to it after the viewing, but after a couple of days calculating the price per square foot, distance to the station and cost of making all the improvements it so obviously needed I felt it was a sensible purchase. But after making a decision to buy it that was driven by head rather than heart, I have slowly fallen in love with it.

If Rightmove had asked me the question that they asked 3,000 other people: "Thinking back to when you chose the property you currently live in, at what point did you feel that it was the property for you?" I would have answered "After a couple of months living there." How about you?